I had armed protection at Elland Road after Leeds United fan attack - it was the hardest moment of my career
A Leeds United fan was jailed following the incident at Hillsborough.
Former Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Chris Kirkland has revealed he had armed police protection during a game at Elland Road just months after being attacked by a Leeds United fan over a decade ago.
Leeds supporter Aaron Cawley assaulted Kirkland during a 1-1 Yorkshire derby draw at Hillsborough in October 2012. The incident happened just after Michael Tonge had equalised for the away side on 77 minutes, with Cawley spotted by Sky cameras entering the pitch and pushing Wednesday’s goalkeeper in the face with both hands.
Kirkland required on-pitch treatment and referee Eddie Ilderton checked on the Wednesday shot-stopper while holding a plastic chair. Cawley, 21 at the time, pleaded guilty to assault and was given a 16-week jail sentence, an £85 fine and a six-year football banning order.
“It’s as though it’s not really happening and I didn’t literally see him until the last minute,” Kirkland told The Star’s All Wednesday podcast. “We’d just let a goal in in the 77th minute and I was devastated because we were only 15 minutes away from a brilliant win. When the goal went in, first and foremost you’re deflated, you obviously know the Leeds fans are behind you and all that, with the noise and the carnage.
“But I was just deflated that the goal went in, so I was down, you can see I’m looking at the floor and thinking ‘Jesus, can we get something out of this game?’ And then literally seen him last minute and it’s as though it’s not happening, and then it did and it gets you by surprise, I didn’t really know what happened to start with.
“Listen, it should never happen on a football pitch but unfortunately people seem to think they can do what they want. We’ve seen it since as well, and I don’t think it’ll be the last time unfortunately. But yeah it was a lot of shock, and obviously my daughter was at home, she had to see it, she was getting a bit of stick at school and stuff like that. It’s the bits after which people don’t realise, it’s the knock-on effect it can have for your family and your daughter and stuff like that.”
Wednesday faced Leeds for the second time that season the following April and Kirkland admits the build-up and that game at Elland Road was possibly the toughest moment of his career. The goalkeeper received threats ahead of that Championship match and even had armed police inside the stadium.
“The hardest part about it was going to Elland Road about three months after,” he added. “I must admit, I did not enjoy that for one second, I was getting all sorts of threats through the post and online. We had to have police at the hotel, outside my room. And just before kick-off, they came up to me in the tunnel and said ‘just so you know, there’s armed undercover police on each post’. So I’m obviously thinking ‘thank God’ because there’s a bit of security there, but then you’re thinking what has it come to? But that was probably the hardest moment of my career because everyone was blaming me.
“As a goalkeeper, I was told not to go and get the ball if it went out for a goal kick, I was told to go nowhere near the touchline, I was told to go nowhere near the crowd. I wasn’t going to anyway to be honest, but I just felt everyone in the stadium was hating me, which they did. So I couldn’t wait to get the game over and done with and get out because in some ways, that was actually harder than the incident at Hillsborough.”
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